The Luddites Among Us!

Back in the late 1700's and early 1800's in England, there was this legend of a man named Ned Ludd. He became the folk hero of workers who were smashing textile machines because those machines supposedly threatened their jobs due to automation. These workers called themselves Luddites and saw their actions as a fight for survival, not just being grumpy about technology.

Being so far removed from those events now, the term Luddite still persists. However, its meaning morphed into a somewhat pejorative term that identifies someone who is opposed to new technology or ways of working.^[1]

The word Luddite has been used to coin more terms, such as luddism, neo-luddite, neo-luddism and luddic (as in the gaming faction called Luddic Church). But, this is an interesting word that deserves a full backform, complete with adjectives, adverbs, verbs and more nouns! These will serve a new purpose in an era when AI is changing the world in a manner that is faster than many are ready. Sure, we have the term technophobia, but that's more about fear of technology rather than being opposed to it.  

As the Information Age ramps up with the new AI Boom, let's use these new terms to describe how we interact with technology (assuming we narrow the definition of Luddite to mean someone that is identified as a ludd). This list isn't in alphabetic order to encourage amused perusal.

• ludd (noun) – a person, action or mindset that resists change resulting from technological progress. Backformation of Luddite. 
• Example: "The office was full of ludds who avoided the new software."
• ludd (verb) – to resist or sabotage change resulting from technological progress. Backformation of Luddite. 
• Example: "He ludds every software update."
• luddish (adj.; informal) – having qualities that are reminiscent of ludd, such as being passively resistant to change that results from progress of technology. Similar to word-forms such as reddish and childish. 
• Example: "He gave a luddish groan when I suggested using AI for his project."
• luddical (adj.; formal) – Exhibiting the characteristics of a ludd, such as actively resisting changes from technological progress. Resembles fanatical and heretical. 
• Example: "The committee’s luddical stance slowed adoption of new tools."
• luddicity (noun) – the quality of being ludd. Similar to word-forms such as electricity and historicity. 
• Example: "Their luddicity is slowing down our adoption of AI."

• luddbomb (verb) – to take away one's phone or other device, typically as a form of punishment.
• Example: "I can't text you later because my parents luddbombed me for being out past curfew last night."
• deludd (verb) – to remove resistance to use of technology or technological progress. Resembles demote and defund. 
• Example: "We'll have to deludd our processes to allow for the use of AI in tasks.

• luddophobic (noun) – one who is irrationally fearful of ludds, Luddites or of being a ludd. Similar to word-forms such as hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia and aibohphobia. 

• Example: "He was accused of being luddophobic."
• luddly (adv.) – In a manner that is characteristic of ludd; acting with resistance to changes resulting from technological progress. Resembles actively and warmly. 
• Example: "She luddly ignored the update, preferring her old methods."
• ludditely (adv.) – In a Luddite manner. Similar to word-forms such as heretically and ironically.
• Example: "They ludditely jumped to conclusions about effectiveness of AI."

• luddful (adj.) – Full of or characterized by luddical behavior or characteristics; actively inclined to oppose technological progress. Resembles prideful and masterful.
• Example: "The luddful staffers are trying to rebel against our most recent process improvements."
• inludd (verb) – to actively insert or introduce luddical resistance into a system, situation or process. Similar to word-forms such as inculcate and infuse.
• Example: "They inludded the workflow by banning cloud-based tools."

• luddify (verb) – to make something old-fashioned or resistant to technological progress. Resembling nullify and electrify.
• Example: "My parents are trying to luddify our home after the recent wifi controversy." 
• emludd (verb) – to immerse a system, environment or group with luddical behavior or characteristics. Similar to word-forms such as empower and embody.
• Example: "The manager emludded the office by banning digital tools."
• imludd (verb) – to become luddical or adopt luddicity. Resembles imbue and immolate.
• Example: "She will imludd her use of new apps on her phone."
• antiludd (noun) – a person, action or attitude that promotes or supports technological progress; opposes luddical behaviors or characteristics. Similar to word-forms such as antithesis and antifreeze. 
• Example: "I will become the office's antiludd in order to force the use of new technology for much needed process improvement."

• antiludd (verb) – to act in a way that counters luddical behaviors or characteristics; to promote modernization or technological adoption. Resembles antihack and antagonize. 
• Example: "Have we been antiludding the office on pace with corporate requirements?"

• ludd out (verb) – aggressively removing particular forms of technology from one's life or environment. Similar to word phrases such as deck out and all out.
• Example, "He ludded out his home to avoid the government from reading his mind while he sleeps."
• luddment (noun) – an instance, example or individual that embodies luddical behaviors or characteristics. Remembles achievement and settlement. 
• Example: "The luddment within the department was a clear obstacle to adopting new tools."
• luddology (noun) – the study or application of outdated or old-fashioned processes and technologies, often ironically or nostalgically. Similar word-form to technology and anthology.
• Example: "The luddology used by the artist allows her to recreate the style of photographs from the late 1800's.
• luddfart (noun) – A brief moment where one forgets how to use certain technology before remembering again. Resembles brainfart and codefart.
• Example: "I got a luddfart trying to use this app."

Fun and Important Words: Highfalutin

Highfalutin is a word with mysterious origins.  Typically, the word means pompous, arrogant, haughty, pretentious or excessively ornate or bombastic, often in reference to a manner of speech.[1](1)  However, how such a word came to mean such things is not known definitively.  The alternative spelling of "hifalutin" doesn't offer any clues, either. It's common for dictionaries to claim that highfalutin is derived from the words "high" and "fluting".  Although this may make sense, it is actually not likely according to other sources.  Long before highfalutin was first recorded, another term meaning something similar already existed, "high flown".  It seems more likely that highfalutin is a corruption of high flown. I've used highfalutin from time to time.  However, my use of the work tends to carry an ironic tone.   Between the spellings, ngram shows that highfalutin is a lot more common than hifalutin, these days. The rise in use of highfalutin also seems to roughly coincide with the reduction of usage for the term high flown.

Boondocks Fussbudget Gobbledygook Hella/Helluva Highfalutin Malarkey Newfangled Roust Twitterpated Whatchamacallit Whopperjawed

Fun and Important Words - Boondocks

Boondocks is a word that is borrowed from Tagalog, being carried over from the Philippines by US soldiers in the early days of US colonization. In Tagalog, the origin word "bundók" actually means "mountain".  However, usage in the English language sees a meaning of a rural and sparsely populated area.  Another word for this is sticks.[1](1)  It is common to hear both "boondocks" and "sticks" used similarly, such as "out in the boondocks" and "out in the sticks".[2]   Either word can have negative connotations, being used to refer to areas where the people are backwards and unsophisticated.  However, when I occasionally use "boondocks", it's really just to describe an area that is out-of-the-way and deep in rural country. Although "boondocks" is often cited as entering English around the turn of the 20th Century, ngram shows it's use in writing didn't really take off until World War II.

Boondocks Fussbudget Gobbledygook Hella/Helluva Highfalutin Malarkey Newfangled Roust Twitterpated Whatchamacallit Whopperjawed

Fun and Important Words - Fussbudget

Fussbudget is a word with a strange composition, and no one is really sure as to why.  A fussbudget is a hard-to-satisfy person who is excessively anxious, bothered or concerned about many little details; that is to say, a fussy person.[1][2](1)  The word "fussbudget" is presumably a compound of the words "fuss" and "budget".  The "fuss" portion of "fussbudget" is kinda obvious, if one takes it to mean "fussy" rather than just "fuss".  "Fuss" is simply to show unnecessary excitement about something.  Whereas "fussy" is being worried about details or not easy to satisfy.  The "budget" part of "fussbudget" is much harder to identify.  Many sources take it to mean a leather bag.  So, it might be said that the term comes from the idea of someone having a bag full of concerns.  This kinda makes sense, since we also have the word "fusspot" (fuss+pot) which carries similar meaning, but referencing a pot instead of a bag.[3][4](4)     I use this word from time to time.  I'm not going into details as to where and why since the word can carry negative connotations.  However, it's a fun word to use. In American English, there seems to be a marginal preference for "fussbudget" over "fusspot" according the ngram.  However, British English shows a strong preference for "fusspot".

Boondocks Fussbudget Gobbledygook Hella/Helluva Highfalutin Malarkey Newfangled Roust Twitterpated Whatchamacallit Whopperjawed

Fun and Important Words - Whopperjawed

Whopperjawed is a awesome word that really does roll of the tongue.  It's not a common word (yet).  You won't find it listed in any printed dictionaries.  However, there are some great entries for whopperjawed on Urban Dictionary. Whopperjawed describes something that is disheveled, askew, crooked, stuck in an awkward position, or any combination thereof.[1][2][3](1)(3)    One of the difficulties with establishing a common usage of the word is that it has many regional variations, such as lopper-jawed, wapper-jawed, whomper-jawed and others (with a hyphen or not).  Of these, "wapper-jawed" seems to be the most historic, with a recording as early as 1825.  "Whopperjawed" appears in a letter by Mark Twain in 1863.[4](4)   Although I don't use this word everyday, I do use it regularly, as situations arise.  It's is a fun word to say.  It's also fun introducing "whopperjawed" to others who haven't heard it before. Sometimes, but not always, the word may appear with the intensifier "all", as in "all whopperjawed".[5](5) Based on an ngram chart, "whopper-jawed" variant seems to be the most common.  "Whopperjawed" without the hyphen is the second most common.  Arguably these are the same thing since compound words often start out with a hyphen that is eventually dropped.  Whomperjawed/Whomper-jawed is the next most common variant.   Photographic example: Whopperjawed house

Boondocks Fussbudget Gobbledygook Hella/Helluva Highfalutin Malarkey Newfangled Roust Twitterpated Whatchamacallit Whopperjawed

Fun and Important Words - Gobbledygook

Gobbledygook is a great sounding word that almost rolls of the tongue (for English speakers).  According to Oxford, it's a word used to describe words, phrases and speech that are "unintelligible by excessive use of abstruse technical terms".  In simpler language, it's hard to understand or nonsensical jargon.[1][2][3] (backup links 1, 2, 3)  It's ironic that the Oxford definition for gobbledegook sounds like gobbledygook itself.  The word is derived from an onomatopoeia of a turkey sound, though the use of gobbledygook is technically not the turkey noise itself.   Typically I do not have the need nor opportunity to use this word in every day language, but it does come up once in a while.  As far as I remember, my first exposure to the word is from normal family conversations while growing up (1970s/80s).  For me personally, that says a lot about the commonality of this young word.  Despite it's recent entry into the English Language (1944), the word has found its way deep into our common lexicon, often in politics or government-related rants.[4](4)     Weirdly, there's a blip on the ngram usage graph for gobbledygook from 1921.  Without any way to see the source referenced by Google, it's hard to tell if this is an earlier coining or if it's a false-positive.   Gobbledygook is sometimes mentioned along with gibberish when discussing lexicon.  However, gibberish is a more general term used to describe nonsense speech, regardless to reason.  Gobbledygook is more specific, referring to technical language that is nonsensical.

Boondocks Fussbudget Gobbledygook Hella/Helluva Highfalutin Malarkey Newfangled Roust Twitterpated Whatchamacallit Whopperjawed